Adding Contacts to Your Messenger List
| Overview | Importing Contacts | Using the Add to Messenger List Window | Adding From Your Address Book | Adding From an Instant Message |
Overview
You can use Yahoo! Messenger to communicate with anyone who use Messenger if you know the person's Yahoo! ID. To take full advantage of Yahoo! Messenger—send instant messages, play games, make phone calls—add people to your Messenger List where they are known as your contacts. A contact is a friend, family member, business associate, or anyone else with whom you wish to interact. Once a contact is on your Messenger List, you no longer need to remember his or her Yahoo! ID.
You can add contacts to your Messenger List in any of the following ways:
- Import one or more contacts from your Yahoo! Address Book and your Microsoft Outlook list of contacts.
- Use the Add to Messenger List window.
- Add a contact from your address book.
- Add a contact from an instant message when the sender isn't on your Messenger List.
A Safe Environment
Yahoo! Messenger provides easy, almost instant access to your contacts, while maintaining a secure and safe environment. You can add a contact to your Messenger List temporarily, but that contact must approve your request before the addition is final. When your contact approves your request, his or her name becomes a permanent item in your list, and you can easily use any Yahoo! Messenger feature to interact with each other.
The reciprocal process for adding contacts to a Messenger List can involve:
Here's How
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If you want to know more about the person, click the View this person's profile link.
Your web browser opens and displays the person's profile. When you're satisfied, return to the Add to Messenger List Request window.
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Click the Allow this person to add me and see when I am online option.
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Click the Finish button.
You can now communicate freely with this contact.
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In the Add to Messenger List Request window, click the Do not allow this person to add me or see when I am online option, then click the Next button.
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In the next window, choose one of the following options:
- Allow the user to continue sending you instant messages, and, if you like, enter a reason for declining the request to have your name added to the person's Messenger List.
- Ignore all future contact with this person.
Tip: Anyone can send you instant messages without being on your Messenger List or in your address book and without having your name on their Messenger List.
This places the person's name in your Ignore List and blocks all Messenger communications from that person.
Tip: For additional information on blocking unwanted communications from anyone not on your Messenger List, see the Related Tutorials.
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Click the Finish button.
To request permission to add a contact to your Messenger List:
Read the tasks in this tutorial to show you how to add and import contacts to your Messenger List. The following describes the process that occurs after you send a request.
When you request permission to add someone to your Messenger List, that person receives a request notification and the name or Yahoo! ID appears on your Messenger List in a temporary state, indicated by a gray circle. When the contact accepts your request, the addition becomes permanent, and a smiley face replaces the circle.
If the contact declines your request, Yahoo! Messenger sends you a notice and removes the name from your Messenger List.
To accept a request to be added to a user's Messenger List:
When a Yahoo! Messenger user wants to add your name to their Messenger List, your Yahoo! Messenger displays the Add to Messenger List Request window. To allow the person to add you to their Messenger List, do the following:
To reject a request to be added to a user's Messenger List:
What's Next
To quickly populate your Messenger List with contacts, import them from your Yahoo! Address Book and your list of Microsoft Outlook contacts.
Words to Know
- Contact: a person with whom you interact; someone to whom you might want to send an email or instant message.
- Ignore List: a list of people from whom you don't want to see or hear anything while you're using Yahoo! Messenger.
- Messenger List: a list of coworkers, friends, family, and associates who also use Yahoo! Messenger.
- Profile: a public web page provided with a Yahoo! ID that lets others learn something about the person associated with the ID, such as hobbies and favorite links. You and each of your contacts have a profile that others can view. You can have more than one profile and choose which profile others see.
- Yahoo! ID: the name by which a person is known to all Yahoo! networks.